JAPAN NEWS AND DISCUSSION
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- Financial Advisor
- Select Asset Management KK, Tokyo
- Salary: ¥100,000 ~ ¥999,999 Paid Training Commission Based
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- Corporate Business English Trainers
- ACT Systems, Inc.（株式会社アクト・システムズ）, Tokyo
- Salary: ¥269,500 ~ ¥280,000 / Month
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- English Instructor (Osaka, Kyoto, Kobe)
- Berlitz Japan, Inc. (ベルリッツ・ジャパン株式会社), Kansai
- Salary: ¥125,000 ~ ¥250,000 / Month
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davidattokyo
It comes from the freezers, mostly.
Posted in: U.S., Australia, NZ 'disappointed' over Japan whale hunt
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davidattokyo
Today is primarily a day of hoping for the emancipation of North Korea's innocent people. Who knows? Maybe Swiss educated Jong Un can do the business and lead NK forward. Even their army heads will be living better lives if they embrace the international community over isolation. They'll all have iPhones, Kindle, Samsung electronics, and better food and housing.
Posted in: N Korean leader Kim Jong-Il dead at 69
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davidattokyo
SwissToni,
Only in doubt by anti-whalers.
Posted in: U.S., Australia, NZ 'disappointed' over Japan whale hunt
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davidattokyo
With all the F's in there I was sure he actually told Francois to do something else... ah well
Posted in: Britain hits back at 'unacceptable' French comments
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davidattokyo
It's standard market speak to describe price action that it not trending up nor down but basically going sideways, within range...
Posted in: Tokyo shares seen rangebound next week
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davidattokyo
Good to see Greenpeace protesting about something that matters, rather than just mindlessly fund-raising.
Posted in: Anti-nuclear protest
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davidattokyo
SwissToni,
People have the freedom of belief, but Japan's activities are consistent with the whaling convention requirements, and the Article VIII requirements completely override the "moratorium" on commercial catches.
Importantly there are material differences between the whaling of the commercial days versus the special permit days. "Commercial whaling in disguise" is but a anti-whaling perspective, but it is certainly not the only perspective, and certainly not the perspective most consistent with the facts.
A lot of people (such as myself, formerly) don't have a problem with whaling except when it is (thought to be) unsustainable or illegal. Although you claim to buy into the barbarity argument, not all the anti-whalers do. You yourself noted that all anti-whalers can't be classified as having exactly the same views on this.
Some other people show humility when they are proven to be wrong - being able to admit I was wrong was why I am no longer an anti-whaler - but even if there weren't such people as this... I recommend you don't hold your breath. It's not easy for international law to be changed as you desire. After all, that's why the anti-whalers subverted the whaling convention in the first place, rather than simply change it to be an anti-whaling convention.
Posted in: U.S., Australia, NZ 'disappointed' over Japan whale hunt
1
davidattokyo
cleo,
You are off the mark on this point.
Abundance estimates are made by sightings surveys. And we know there are some hundreds of thousands.
Trends in abundance are determined through population modelling.
The biological samples are taken for the purpose of investigating these trends in abundance.
I trust you are clear on this now, even though you don't like whaling or related research.
A census is different from a sample, I'm sure you know this already so I need not explain further.
Posted in: U.S., Australia, NZ 'disappointed' over Japan whale hunt
-1
davidattokyo
OssanAmerica,
Harsh :) There are some hardened types ($$C$ supporters for example) who seem to feel some kind of increased self-worth through being anti-whaling (thus violence and disrespect of the law becomes justifiable), whereas I believe the majority are simply good people who have been misled by the commercial anti-whaling propaganda machine. I was such myself originally, and it was only the overt racism towards the Japanese that I perceived in my local media at the time that triggered me to consider things from an independent perspective. I suspect an International Court of Justice ruling in favour of Japan will act as such a trigger for a great many such anti-whalers, who like me, do respect the law.
Posted in: U.S., Australia, NZ 'disappointed' over Japan whale hunt
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davidattokyo
Dream on. That remains but an "argument" Australia has taken to the International Court of Justice, and one that will fail given, amongst other things, 1) the clear object and purpose of the whaling convention and 2) the material differences between the former commercial whaling and current Article VIII special permit operations.
Vilified by you and the likes of $$C$ perhaps, who have no respect for any law that doesn't suit.
But as for other anti-whalers, such evidently baseless vilification has great potential to break these fundamentally fair-minded people away from the shackles of the commercial anti-whaling industry propaganda. (I know this from experience, being a converted anti-whaler myself.)
They have the moral high ground, what they have lacked is the political nouse of the Norwegians.
Our personal morality is meaningless, and mine is neither more nor less than yours. Legality is what matters in international disputes. Most people respect the law, even if some people don't.
You described the Article VIII as a "get out of jail free card". Such a characterisation can only be valid if one is looking at the issue from the context of the idea that "whaling is/should be banned". That is why anti-whalers describe what is an actual part of the whaling convention as a "loophole". It can only be regarded as a "loophole" if one ignores the whaling convention itself except for the "moratorium". This is like selective quoting, and why this is flawed thinking. The truth may hurt, don't shoot the messenger...
Posted in: U.S., Australia, NZ 'disappointed' over Japan whale hunt
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davidattokyo
The reason that anti-whalers look at it from this perspective is because they wish to believe that there is a permanent ban on whaling. However legally the moratorium is temporary and furthermore subordinate to the whaling convention, thus such an interpretation is flawed both legally and in reality.
For it is natural that a whaling convention that allows for essentially unregulated scientific catches up to the discretion of the contracting government to at least require that those whales taken be utilised fully, in accordance with the spirit of the notion of optimum utilisation of whale resources.
Anti-whalers pretend the "optimum utilisation of whale resources" purpose of the whaling convention does not exist, and hence have found themselves lost on a tangent.
Posted in: U.S., Australia, NZ 'disappointed' over Japan whale hunt
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davidattokyo
SwissToni,
Indeed we conservationists, who understand what the purpose of the whaling convention is, feel this day can't come soon enough.
Posted in: U.S., Australia, NZ 'disappointed' over Japan whale hunt
1
davidattokyo
herefornow,
Hey there is an "international convention for the regulation of whaling".
Is international law being on their side not enough for you?
If these nations have a problem with the convention, they should withdraw from it.
But not withdrawing from it, and demanding Japan opt to not exercise it's rights under it, is just plain silly and unbecoming of proper sovereign states.
The purpose of the research is not research in an of itself. The research is of the nature required by the whaling commission to fulfill it's mandate of optimum utilisation of whale resources.
Eating whales is different to those nations that killed whales for oil primarily, and yes this diversity ought to be tolerated. Fascism is bad don't you know.
If western PR is your priority gee then I guess I can see what you value in the world. Time for Japan to stop whaling and get Kim Kardashian over here quick!
Posted in: U.S., Australia, NZ 'disappointed' over Japan whale hunt
1
davidattokyo
OssanAmerica,
Indeed the reason they don't quit and draft an anti-whaling convention is because they know they can best fulfill their political objective of obstructing the rights of other nations by behaving in bad faith at the whaling commission.
Posted in: U.S., Australia, NZ 'disappointed' over Japan whale hunt
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davidattokyo
The US uses the Pelly Amendment to try to bully whaling nations, but it has never worked. Sustainable whaling doesn't detract from the IWC's conservation program at all, sustainable whaling is by definition compatible with conservation.
Posted in: U.S., Australia, NZ 'disappointed' over Japan whale hunt
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davidattokyo
globalwatcher,
Japan is legally entitled to catch as many whales for research purposes as it "thinks fit" (see the whaling convention).
As a sample size, 850 is hardly unusual. They could be catching 200 is there'd still be people (without any knowledge of the research or it's purpose) saying that it was too many. It's not the number they are really complaining about, they just don't like whaling per se.
Posted in: U.S., Australia, NZ 'disappointed' over Japan whale hunt
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davidattokyo
cleo,
No, it isn't. We are talking what is essentially standard fisheries stock assessment methodology. Isn't your "whaling is inhumane" argument good enough? You detract from your position with weak psuedo-science comments like this, just sayin'.
Posted in: U.S., Australia, NZ 'disappointed' over Japan whale hunt
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davidattokyo
Neneswsw,
They aren't sampling them in numbers that would threaten the health of the stocks. The 850 minke quota compares with estimated abundance of some hundreds of thousands. We conservationists would not support it if this were not the case.
No they don't, actually. The original JARPA program had a quota of approx 400 +/- 10% IIRC, and JARPA II from 05/06 is for 850 +/- 10%. Some NGOs may make the claim that quotas increase each year, but that's just a big fat lie.
Posted in: U.S., Australia, NZ 'disappointed' over Japan whale hunt
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davidattokyo
RevHead,
It does get consumed, that's why it is stored in freezers. There are millions of tonnes of product in storage in Japan, whale makes up but a tiny insignificant fraction of this.
Posted in: U.S., Australia, NZ 'disappointed' over Japan whale hunt
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davidattokyo
m5c32,
It's just plain legal.
It's not a loophole. It's an explicit part of the whaling treaty. The treaty can't be changed without the assent of all states adhered to it, and there are many that would reject the deletion of Article VIII of the whaling convention. (Doing that would be akin to abolishing the "scientific basis" principle that is supposed to underlie all whaling management decisions, which in practice is ignored due to the intransigence of the anti-whaling nations).
Posted in: U.S., Australia, NZ 'disappointed' over Japan whale hunt